The sort-of-dragon and his blond treasure
by Live Don't Just Exist
Summary: Another day in camp halfblood: The Stoll brothers' prank goes wrong, Lou Ellen's experiment is a failure, and Will needs to stop his boyfriend from hoarding all his underwear.
1. So

**Summary: **Another day in camp halfblood: The Stoll brothers' prank has gone wrong, Lou Ellen's experiment is a failure, and Will has to stop his boyfriend from hoarding all his underwear.

**Author's notes: **Reading my old fics was painful. I couldn't stop cringing ohmygod, I want to rewrite everything *melts into the floor*

* * *

**So  
**_by LDJE_

* * *

"So…" Lou Ellen starts, her eyes wander and her right foot scuffs at the pavement. Will, who was busy doing inventory on their first aid kits, freezes.

Will narrows his eyes, it was Lou Ellen's tick whenever she did something wrong. "What did you do?"

"Psh, what makes you think I did anything?" Lou Ellen says trying for nonchalance.

"You're doing your 'I-did-something-wrong' face," Will deadpans and he crosses his arms. "And since you've come to me of all people, it only means three things: one, you need a healer to solve it; two, you did something to one of my sibs; or three, you did something to Nico."

Lou Ellen flinches at the third option and Will turns his full attention on her, glaring.

"What did you do to Nico?"

"It's not just _my _fault!" Lou Ellen tries to defend herself, not even bothering to deny it. "The Stolls did something too!"

"So much for not selling us out, Lou Ellen!" The bush behind her shouted out and Will shot the bush an unimpressed look. It became silent.

"And? Where is he?" Will sighs. Sometimes he felt like his friends were children and he was the underappreciated babysitter.

Lou Ellen laughs weakly, "About that…"

"He's in the Apollo cabin?" Will says, confused. "Why didn't you take him to the infirmary?"

"Uh, we can't force him to go anywhere." Connor replies uncertainly.

"Why? Is he hurt?" Will worriedly asks.

"No," Travis sighs, "Just go in there and you'll see what we're talking about." Lou Ellen nods and shrugs apologetically at Will.

"You go first," She says, "Nico growls at us whenever we go through the door."

Alarmed by those words, Will approaches the door carefully, expecting his boyfriend to have turned into some sort of lion or wolf or whatever type of animal growls and scares his friends. Thankfully, none of his siblings were in the cabin, since they were all too busy having an archery competition.

He opens the door slowly and is greeted by-

"Uhm, why is Nico lying on top of my clothes?" Will asks, taken aback. He looks closer and blushes, "Wait, is he hugging _my underwear_?"

"Is he?" Lou Ellen squeals and Will winces at the pitch.

Suddenly growling came from inside the cabin and everyone freezes. Will was surprised to learn that the growling was coming from his underwear-stealing boyfriend. Nico was sprawled over a pile of his clothes and his eyes were glaring at Lou Ellen and the Stoll brothers.

"Nico?" Will asks, stepping forward slowly, "Are you okay? Are you hurt? What ha-"

Nico pounces and pushes Will to the floor, draping himself over the blond. Lou Ellen jumps away and the Stoll brothers shriek.

"Mine." Nico growls and his eyes flash dangerously. Will swallows his surprise, eyes wide and blushing. "Leave."

"We're not going to take Will away from you, Nico!" Lou Ellen says, her hands were raised in defense. The Stoll brothers were nodding furiously behind her.

Will pulls Nico closer to him, effectively distracting the son of Hades. Nico nuzzles against his neck and the blond's blush gets darker. He clears his throat and turns to his friends who were doing a good job of looking both frightened and amused.

"What did you do to him?" Will demands.

Lou Ellen scratches her cheek. "Uhm, well, there was a dragon potion incident…"

"Dragon _what_?"

"Long story, short, it's a prank gone wrong and Nico now has a personality of a dragon." Conner pipes up. Will glares at them.

"At least he's not hurt." Travis offers weakly.

"He isn't," Will agrees and shoots them all a warning glance. "But _you guys_ will be, when he's back to himself."

"We're brewing the antidote as we speak!" Lou Ellen says, "No harm done!"

"He was lying on a pile of my clothes, both dirty and clean, _and _he was hugging my underwear." Will explains. "You don't think he'll be embarrassed by that?"

"Uh…"

"And someone better do my laundry for me," Will continues. He shoots the three perpetrators a look when they opened their mouths, "No, not Nico, he's a victim in all of this. And so was I."

"I bet you're enjoying all the cuddling though." Lou Ellen mutters under her breath. Nico growls at the contempt in her voice, having heard what she said because of his dragon characteristics. "Anyway, we're gonna go leave and uh, make sure that antidote is brewing correctly."

"And my clothes."

Lou Ellen shoots the Stoll brothers a look. Their shoulders slump and they enter the Apollo cabin, about to start on doing the laundry-

-But then Nico tenses and his growling gets louder. Everyone freezes.

"Uh, I think we'll come back when the antidote's done." Connor says, slowly banking away. Was it just Will or did everything suddenly become darker, like the shadows in the room suddenly multiplied?

"Right." Will nods, eyes wide. "Uh, you guys can go. I'll handle Death boy."

"Good luck!" The three says to him, retreating quickly and closing the door. When they were alone, Nico relaxes and Will makes himself comfortable. The son of Hades purrs, kissing Will's cheek before laying his head on his chest, drifting off to sleep.

The son of Apollo blushes at the kiss but smiles softly when Nico begins to snore softly on him. He runs a hand through the unkempt dark hair, kissing his boyfriend on the head.

"What am I going to do with you?" He says fondly, curling up protectively around Nico and falling asleep himself.

* * *

**Author's notes: **Am I going to do more dragon!Niico verse? I want to! I love dragon verses! The whole hoard thing and possessive thing 3 Imagine Will being jealous when dragon!Nico keeps sniffing Percy o.o There's already a chapter 2, to be posted tomorrow!

Hope you guys enjoy! Drop me a line and let me know what you think! Have a tumblr? You can find me there as emrysblu

**Wherein**, the Stoll brothers try to prank Nico with one of Lou Ellen's potion. Lou Ellen, who thought they were pranking each other, gave them a wrong (experimental) potion on purpose because of the hair color incident last week. (And she needed test subjects)

The dragon potion was supposed to turn the drinker into a full dragon and fade by sun down. But since it was experimental, the effects could last who-knows-how-long and instead of achieving a dragon form, Nico instead gets dragon-like characteristics. Does he have dragon powers? No one knows and no one wants to see if he did.


	2. Temperamental Love

**Temperamental Love **_  
__by LDJE_

* * *

Dragons, Will is beginning to learn, are temperamental creatures.

Or at least, demigods with temporary dragon characteristics were temperamental. It seems unfair to generalize an entire species' personality based on the actions of one demigod spelled to be like one. Who knows? Maybe being temperamental is just a Nico thing.

"Are you sulking?"

Will is cruelly shaken out of his reverie by an unnecessary (and _totally untrue_) observation. He looks up to see Lou Ellen giving him a pitiful look. The blond tenses his shoulders and opens his mouth in defense, but then he hears another playful growl in the distance and deflates.

"Depends," Will mumbles glumly, "Are you here to make fun of me for it?"

Lou Ellen sits next to him and pats his shoulder, "I really, _really _want to… but you look so sad right now that I don't even have the heart for it." She shrugs, "Besides, your sulking is indirectly my fault so lucky you! I've decided to be sympathetic today."

Will sighs, "It's stupid."

Lou Ellen nods wisely, "Boy problems usually are."

The Apollo head shoots her a quelling look and the daughter of Hecate raises her hands in apology.

"Dragons are possessive creatures," Will begins to explain, "If they value something, they stick to it like… I don't know, something sticky."

"…right," Lou Ellen says delicately, "So, translation: you're jealous because Nico's been stalking Percy for a few hours now and it reminded you that your Death Boy had a thing for Percy years back."

"Yes," Will nods in defeat, "That."

Lou Ellen gives him an exasperated look, "Will, the first thing Nico did when we 'accidentally' gave him dragon instincts was hoard your underwear. He wouldn't let the Stolls anywhere near your laundry for three days!"

Will flushes at that reminder, "That was-"

"And let's not forget the 'Fire Breathing' episode!" Lou Ellen exclaims, "Everyone who got too close to you had to be treated for first degree burns! Nico didn't even know he could breathe fire until Drew 'accidentally' fell on you!"

Will's blush darkens.

"Nico has been stalking around and growling at everyone who even looks at you for the past few days," Lou Ellen lectures, "In fact, if you weren't so deep in your sulk, you'd notice that your instinct-driven boyfriend keeps looking over here every minute trying to make sure you were okay."

Will snaps his head up in surprise and sure enough, he meets Nico's sharp look.

"Aaaand he's headed here right now- Okay, you know what? I'm getting out of here before I get my eyebrows singed off like Drew Tanaka. Ciao!" Lou Ellen scurries off to wherever as Nico walks towards his embarrassed blond.

"Uh…" Is the only smart thing Will could come up with at the moment.

"Did you know," Nico says in a calm tone that somehow makes him seem more dangerous than usual. It might be the dragon aura he was exhibiting or something. Will really should ask Lou Ellen about that antidote. "That dragons have _really_ good hearing?"

Will swallows, face flaming as he says, "…no?"

Nico nods and extends a paper bag his way. Will takes it hesitantly. He peeks in and sees an assortment of brioche donuts with honey glaze.

"Percy and Annabeth just came back from the Camp Jupiter with these. He said he'd only give them to me if I did some 'cool dragon things' for him." Nico rolled his eyes in annoyance, "I know these are your favorite donuts so," He crosses his arms with a huff, "I made do with his stupid requests for a few hours."

_So praise me, human_. That is the vibe Will is currently getting from his sort-of-dragon boyfriend. He would've laughed at the absurdity of it all, if he wasn't to touched by the gesture. The paper bag in his hands crumples with how hard he was holding it. He ducks his head to hide a grin.

Nico raises an eyebrow at him and Will takes a deep breath.

"Thanks," He sort of mumbles awkwardly. Then he stands up in a sudden bolt of courage and grabs one of Nico's shoulders to give him a firm kiss.

Nico stumbles back in surprise as Will pulls back with a wide, happy grin. "You're the best!" He says before he turns around and happily heads to the Apollo cabin.

Will hears Nico stumble to catch up with him and smiles to himself, holding the donuts closer, forgetting his brief bout of jealousy.

Maybe having a temperamental dragon for a boyfriend wouldn't be so bad after all.

**The next day…**

Will sighs in exasperation as Nico chases Connor around for putting his arm around Will for a few seconds.

"I'm burn your hair to cinders!"

"NOT THE HAIR! NO! WILLLLLL!"

"Don't look at him!"

Will sighs even longer and he turns around, pretending to be deaf to the chaos. Nevermind what he said yesterday, when was that antidote going to be finished again?

* * *

**Authors notes: ** Will add to this verse when I have inspiration but it can be seen as completed too! Thanks for reading and all the support! You can catch me around my tumblr emrysblu!


	3. Steal a Little, Steal a Lot

**Summary:** What happens when you steal a dragon's treasure?

**Author's notes: **What was supposed to be a short drabble not exceeding 1k words, somehow grew into a 2k monster. This was supposed to be a light-hearted fic but it kept turning this way and that and I have no idea what this is anymore, honestly.

* * *

**Steal a Little, Steal a Lot  
**_by LDJE_

* * *

Will wakes up surrounded by candles and realizes he's half-naked, "Aw," He slurs slightly, "This is romantic."

"I'm about to sacrifice you." Will looks to the side and sees someone who is definitely NOT his boyfriend staring at him. It was a centaur holding up a bloody knife. And now that the son of Apollo looks closer, he realizes there were strange symbols on the floor, painted on his chest, and he was currently tied to a stone pillar. He looks around and realizes he was being held in some sort of crumbling ancient building. Ruins, maybe.

"Oh," The blond tries to save face, "Uh, this is the most romantic sacrifice I've ever been to?"

"I kidnapped you."

Will squints and frowns, "That's sucks. Consent is important."

"I may have hit your head too hard," The villain concedes and well, at least he's being honest.

"You could've just asked me to go with you," Will scolds lightly. His head throbs and he has no control of what comes out of his mouth. "Then I could've rejected you before you went through all this trouble. Now we're here and all these candles and bondage ropes will go to waste because my answer is still 'no'."

"People don't normally have a choice when it comes to being sacrificed," The centaur walks toward him, licking the blood off the knife. "You can scream all you want but I won't stop."

Will, whose head hurts too much to give a proper response, just mutters the first thing he thinks of, "Kinky."

The villain of the day ignores him and tips his chin up with the end of his knife, "You won't be making jokes when I'm done with you."

"I doubt that." Will has officially lost control of his mouth. He is _so_ sore, _so_ annoyed, and _just so confused_ that he's forgotten to restrain all his inner sarcasm. If any of his friends could hear him now, they'd never let him live it down. This must be what it means to be a demigod. "I'll probably be making jokes into the afterlife. It's a demigod coping mechanism. When you're in danger, bleeding out, or close to death, the inner Percy Jackson comes out to play."

The centaur huffs at him and slices his shoulder. It's a shallow cut but he grunts anyway, flinching back.

"What? Nothing to say?"

"I thought vampires didn't exist." It was the best he could come up with. He sees now why Percy and other demigods often made jokes when things were serious. It's a defense mechanism, trying to put up a tough persona so that the enemy couldn't grab on to their fear and exploit it.

"I'm not going to drink your blood," Another stroke of the knife, by his neck this time, dangerously close to a vein, "But someone else will. You see, there've been rumors going around among the monsters lately. Apparently the blood of a child of Apollo can heal anything, did you hear?"

Will stiffens, he feels cold all of a sudden.

"I don't believe those rumors myself but the public wants blood from Apollo's spawns," He turns to take a cup and places it by Will's neck, "If your blood does manage to heal something then I'll keep you alive. If it doesn't, then… we'll talk about that when it happens."

The blond struggles against the ropes, ignoring the pounding of his head. He doesn't know if the rumors about Apollo's children having healing blood was true, even if it was or it wasn't, some monsters are bound to believe it and he isn't the only child of Apollo.

Whether his blood is some sort of miracle healing potion or not, his siblings were in danger. If his blood does heal, then they'll go after his siblings. If his blood doesn't heal, then they'll still go after his siblings to find someone whose blood does.

A slice to the chest and Will grunts. He closes his eyes and tries to think. His headache makes it hard to concentrate and his open wounds were beginning to sting. Direct attacks weren't his forte but he was at least trained in defense and the art of escaping. Still, he was drained, he didn't know what these symbols on him meant but they were probably draining and the bleeding wasn't helping his lightheadedness.

The centaur continues to bleed him and collect his blood in a cup like some old-fashioned vampire preying on vulnerable girls and boys. He whistles as he does so, like he's enjoying what he was doing. And Will would puke all over him if he could, because he's petty like that, but then- but then-

Oh.

There's an idea.

His hands were tied behind his back but if he times it at the right moment, then he could get out of here. He bows his face to hide his expression. The centaur leans to his side to slice at his arm and Will gives a high-pitched whistle.

The whistle attack isn't as strong with his hands tied, but since it is up close, it's more potent. The centaur curses in shock, dropping the knife. Will twists his tied hands to the side and leans the rest of his body in the opposite direction to catch the knife.

His captor falls back, temporarily stunned by the sharp whistle. The son of Apollo manages to grab on to the knife but it's sticky with his blood and it falls to the floor with a loud clatter.

Will curses under his breath and decides to go for plan B. He tries to wiggle out of his ropes instead, as fast as he can. Time is of the essence and the centaur was only stunned for a few minutes. His head aches and he actually feels sick with all the wriggling but he can't stop.

His captor shakes his head and tries to stand up. He sways but manages to glare at Will despite the ringing in his ears. He leans down to grab the knife and points it at the blond. He lets out a horse-like huff while Will continues to struggle.

"Tch, you actually tried to pull a fast one on me. You'll pay for that," The centaur says, "Maybe you'll think twice in escaping again if I cut off your tongue."

He grabs the blond by his face and forces his mouth open. Will grits his teeth and thinks, _Nico!_

A loud crash and a roar echoes around them. The centaur's knife falls for a second time. The ruins they were in shake and begin to crumble even more.

"What in Hades-" Shadows erupt from all darkened corners of the room. The centaur yells when his own shadow wraps itself around his hooves and drags him halfway into the darkness. "WHAT IS GOING ON?"

Will exclaims when the shadows gather around where he was trapped. They form a protective barrier around him, keeping him safe from falling debris. The stones continue to crumble and his captor is struggling not to be buried by his own shadow, yelling all the while.

Despite all the noise, the sound of loud, echoing footsteps could be heard above it all. Will tries to peek through the shadow barrier. His heart is beating a mile a minute, because all this darkness, these shadows, and that scent of death _could only mean one thing_.

The centaur freezes when a shoe presses down on his shoulder. He looks up and sees a boy with messy dark hair and olive skin looking down at him. The teen's dark brown eyes were narrowed into slits and they look like they were glowing in the dark of his own making.

"_You stole from me."_

The voice sends shivers down the creature's spine and he lets out a small, terrified sound. "You're-"

"_You stole what is mine," _The powerful, dark demigod continues and any words the centaur had, dissolves in his mouth. _"Hasn't anyone ever told you NOT to steal from a dragon?"_

The centaur pales and Nico bares his teeth and kicks him right into the puddle of darkness. A terrified scream echoes throughout the ruins and the shadow puddle shrink into itself until there is nothing left.

Silence.

"Whoa," Comes a voice from behind Nico. Will twists and sees that his boyfriend did not come alone.

"I don't think you needed us after all," Annabeth observes with a raised eyebrow. She reaches out a hand to close Percy's mouth. Lou Ellen does the same to Cecil's mouth.

Will's eyes burn at the sight of his friends and he croaks out, "G-Guys…"

This snaps Cecil out of his stupor and he runs towards Will with worry, "Will! Man, are you o-"

Annabeth grabs the son of Hermes out of the way just as a tendril of shadow comes out to push him back.

Percy transforms his pen into a sword in retaliation, "Nico?"

Nico, whose eyes were still narrowed, walks in front of Will and turns to face them. He growls lowly and the shadows around them go on alert.

"Uh-oh," Lou Ellen whispers, "Dragon instincts are at play. I'm afraid we're not allowed near Will right now."

"What?" Cecil exclaims, "But he's bleeding! He needs help! Hey, di Angelo! Get a hold of yourself! Your boyfriend needs medical attention!"

Nico does not budge, Will sees his hands clench to fists at his sides. He doesn't want another fight, not after everything that happened, and he wants all of them to go home without anyone else getting injured. Will takes a deep breath and says, "Guys, I'm fine! No need to worry. These are all just shallow cuts."

Nico straightens at the sound of Will's voice, the shadows become sharper. Percy frowns and looks to Annabeth for help.

The daughter of Athena observes the two carefully, "We have to leave them."

Everyone stares at her.

"WHAT?"

"It's the safest choice. Nico won't let anyone come near Will and as long as we're here, he won't let his guard down." Annabeth explains patiently, "I've read all about dragons. When you steal from a dragon, they go berserk. So we need to give Nico some time to control his protective instincts. We're his friends and he trusts us, so he'll let us go without a fuss, but he's too keyed up right now to allow us near Will."

"So… we just leave?" Percy asks uncertainly.

"We'll camp out and wait until he's calmed down." Annabeth corrects.

"But Will-"

"-is a trained medic, Cecil." Lou Ellen sighs, "He can heal himself. He's better at it than any of us anyway." Cecil frowns but does not argue her good point.

Annabeth takes out a rolled map and a bag containing nectar, ambrosia, and unicorn's draught. She steps forward but stops when Nico starts growling. Percy's shoulders are tense but Annabeth remains cool-faced. She puts down the gathered objects and steps back.

"There's a cave near here, you can rest there with Will until you calm down," Annabeth explains, "We'll stay out of sight but we'll keep an eye out for you, you have our word."

The daughter of Athena turns to leave. Percy finally relaxes and his sword turns back into a pen. He salutes Nico and Will before he follows his girlfriend out. Lou Ellen and Cecil hesitate.

"We'll see you later, Will." Lou Ellen assures the blond who gives her a wan smile. She pulls at Cecil's arm.

Cecil frowns harder before he sighs, "You better protect him, Di Angelo." Their two friends finally leave them alone.

Nico remains tense for a few minutes, ears perked before he eventually relaxes. He turns towards Will and with a flick of his wrist the shadow barrier dissipates. Some of the shadows stick to the ropes tying Will to the pillar and it envelopes the ropes until there is nothing left.

The blond falls forward but Nico catches him in a cool embrace.

"Nico," Will sighs. He knows he's taller than the son of Hades but he can't help but slump against him tiredly. Nico lifts a finger and traces the still bleeding cuts on the blond. He growls under his breath. Will huffs and buries his face on the other's shoulders.

"I'll heal. Let's just get the things Annabeth left us and go rest? Please?" Will pleads quietly. Nico runs a hand through his hair and he sighs in content.

"Yeah," Nico pulls back and looks him in the eyes. Will blinks at Nico's sharp gaze, surprised by the intensity there. "Whatever you want."

Then Nico leans forward and _bites_ his lower lip.

"Ow!" Will pulls back, bewildered, "What was _that_ for?"

Nico opens his mouth slightly to reveal slightly sharp teeth. Will's heart skips a beat at the sight. The ghost king shrugs, "Dragon instincts."

Will blinks at him in astonishment for a moment before he snorts and dissolves into quiet laughter. He buries his face on Nico's shoulder again, trying to muffle his slightly hysterical laughing. Somehow, Nico managed to ease some of the heaviness he was feeling just by being himself.

"Will?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Will finds the strength to straighten and smile at the other. "Let's go and get some rest, okay?"

Nico nods at him, grabbing his hand as they walk out of the ruins. Will leans against his side and trusts the other not to let him fall. He's safe… as long as he has Nico with him.

* * *

**Author's notes:** This was supposed to be a slightly comedic one-shot that turned out this way. By the way I'm in tumblr and twitter as emrysblu, come check me out for more works!

Title is from this quote: _Steal a little and they'll put you in jail, steal a lot and they'll make you king._ **Bob Dylan**


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